SKILLS DEMONSTRATION (LIVE SIMULATION)

Now that you have studied motivational interviewing and conducted an analysis of an example motivational interviewing session, it is time for you to apply your knowledge and skills to a practice scenario. In this Assignment, you demonstrate motivational interviewing skills with a client with a substance use disorder in a live simulation. Be aware that you will not be graded on how perfectly you perform within the simulation experience. Instead, consider the simulation experience an opportunity to practice your skills and reflect on both your current areas of strength and current areas of weakness. Applying skills in a live scenario can be challenging and may teach you that certain skills are actually more difficult to put into practice than you might anticipate. Use this heightened awareness to seek out opportunities to grow and deepen these skills that would benefit from further development.

To prepare:

• Access the Motivational Interviewing Simulation - Overview and Preparation document and review the description of your role as a social worker engaging the simulation client.
• Your primary tasks will be to:
  • Establish rapport with the client.
  • Demonstrate OARS skills (asking open questions, affirming, reflecting, summarizing).
  • Reframe the session.
• Refer to the Motivational Interviewing Infographic and Motivational Interviewing Simulation - Overview and Preparation document for specific guidance for each of these three tasks.
• Think about your experience after you have completed the simulation and before writing your reflection. How did the client respond to you? What worked well? What would you do differently in the future? Remember, you will not be graded on the recording of the live simulation itself; you will be graded on this reflection assignment.

Submit a reflection on your simulation experience.

• Evaluate your ability to:
  • Build rapport using knowledge of stages of change and motivational interviewing principles.
  • Demonstrate motivational interviewing skills including asking open questions, affirming, reflecting, and summarizing.
  • Reframe the session including a summary of the next steps the client wishes to take.
• Describe how the knowledge you gained from this experience could guide your next steps in future social work sessions with this client.
• Once you have received the simulation recording link, copy and paste the link into your reflection Assignment. This link shows your Instructor that you have completed the live simulation.

As you evaluate your performance, be sure to identify both areas of strength as well as any gaps or areas for improvement that you would like to develop further as you prepare for future work with this client population. Which elements of motivational interviewing did you implement successfully? In what ways did your words or behavior fail to reflect motivational interviewing best practices? Use specific examples from your simulation experience to illustrate your points.